Windy Nook, High Heworth
extra stuff to that found here and here and here

I've linked Windy Nook with High Heworth basically because Windy Nook History Society regards it as being in their patch

This is on the gable end of St Alban's Cres

Isn't Greenbourne Village, named for a stream that ran from Windy Nook to Heworth, a wonderful address? Nicer name than Windy Nook. Nobody would choose the latter over the former but it wasn't chosen but rather just evolved. Standing as it does at the near pinnacle of Gateshead Fell/Heworth Common the village is clearly more about being windy than being blessed with a stream. And it's had that name, spelt Windie Nook, (also sometimes Windy-nook and Windynook)) since at least 1698 per the oldest register at Heworth church


I have become increasingly interested in Windy Nook, a place I pass through a lot between Low Fell where I belong and High Heworth where I now live. I have long been aware of the Nature Reserve, the "Fortress" sitting atop the landscaped slag heap and the "church" born out of a pease pudding factory born out of the Windy Nook Cooperative Society's High Heworth branch, born out of The Wylam family's home in the monstrous Farm House of High Heworth Farm. Let's start there with my take on Windy Nook's history.
I bought a book by John Oxberry, written in 1924, describing the first 50 years of Windy Nook Co-op and, not for the first time, I was well impressed with the Quarrymen, the ordinary working men of Windy Nook who laboured in their own spare time to provide the village with a water source by feeding water from the Greenbourne  to a pant built opposite the church gates. 


And, again in spare time, to help build a Mechanics Institute

...a precursor to a public library.. and there, decided that this tiny village should have it's own Co-operative Society

Their first shop premises was a little rented shop but was replaced by this on Union Street

Organised by men with no experience of the retail trade it had a meteoric rise and in no time opened a branch shop in Springwell village which grew to be this size,

indeed the building is still prominently there on the road thro' Springwell but hasn't been the Co-op since the late 1960's
Following the first branch was branch No 2 on Windy Nook Road, then No 3 in Eighton Banks and finally No 4 at High Heworth Colliery...that's the former farm house cum co-op cum pease pudding factory cum place of worship that I mentioned earlier

Then...and now
Whitehills Christian Fellowship which was originally the farmhouse of the prominent Wylam family on the 160 acres High Heworth Farm. They lived and farmed here from 1812 to 1880. They also owned Leam Lane Farm. The current owner of the building Bobby Faldon bought it from the Co-op and ran a pease pudding factory until his retirement.



While in this area and having mentioned the Wylam family, they built this house,

just yards away from their house(/co-op/peasepudding/church) and called it North Leam, being as it was, due north from their Leam Farm. I'm so glad they were this indulgent because, though this house has gone, the wonderful tree lined Coach Road, which they built to ride their coach and horses to and from their houses, remains. It's a lovely link to the past, if it were not for the morons who leave their litter. Since the Council retained the route and its trees by building the Leam Lane street, Woodwynd, either side of it, perhaps they ought to pick the litter or put a few more litter bins en route

This is the bit from Leam Lane Road. This standard is not maintained for the next bit to High Heworth. Left click on the pic to see the other view

Let's now turn to the places of religion in Windy Nook. Windy Nookers were followers of Primitive Methodism in the 1820's but didn't form their own Society until 1838, meeting in members' houses



St Alban's, an Anglican church, was the first purpose built place of worship, operational in 1842, in the charge of the Rev Edward Hussey Adamson
  The Primitive  Methodists chapel on Albion Street came next, opened in 1864. Click the PM link above to read more by expert Richard Jennings and see a pic of that chapel. 



This New Connexion Methodist Chapel on Stone Street was opened in 1865 and in 1964 the Primitives and the Connexions amalgamated, using this chapel, which they still do, albeit in an adjoining newer extension. Let's move on to Education

In the late1820's Henderson's Academy made its appearance but the appearance of this particular building was, per the carving above the door, in 1849.
It was run by John "Cooky" Henderson
There was also a school run in two cottages in the Stead by the vicar of Heworth. This was followed 6 years later in 1842 by a formal church school at the top of Coldwell Lane. 
An entry in William's 1844 Trade Directory reads
National School for Boys Wm Arthur
National School for Girls A. Balfour, mistress
In 1850 teachers were Ann Simpson and John Mitchison, per Ward's Trade Directory 

As it is the centenary of WWI, as I write this, here's something worth noting from John Oxberry's book. In 1914 the Windy Nook Co-op Society had 32 male members of staff until 20 of them enlisted in the Armed Forces at the outset of hostilities. During the four years of the war 30 of their staff, including a John Christmas, were in the Forces, of which two, John Havelock and Matthew Collin were killed in action

And now to the pubs...yes, please. Six of them there were but not all at the same time. The Hare and Hounds (once the Horse and Hounds) behind where Sutherland's (once Windy Nook Club) is. 
The Black House, the building that morphed into Tesco's, the Hope and Anchor which was across Coldwell Lane from the Black House, next down from Billy the barber's place. Later came The Bay Horse and the Fiddler's Three (once Ravensworth Arms but mainly referred to as Finnigan's). There was also the Duke of Cumberland in the vicinity but it is thought that it was in High Heworth beyond the eastern border of Windy Nook. 
 The Hope and Anchor was run by Margaret Lowes  in 1844-51..perhaps longer
But in 1854 William Battersby is known to have taken over..still there in 1856

The Bay Horse was run by John Robson in 1844, in 1850 by Foster Stephenson and in 1855-1859 by Thomas Gray
 
Horse and Hounds in 1848 had Anne Swaller and in 54-55 had Forster Stephenson

(Foster Stephenson had The Bay Horse, then Horse and Hounds. Is this the same Stephenson who lived in High Heworth Farmhouse (yes, that became the co-op/pease pudding factory) who gave the steep top part of High Heworth Lane the nickname "Stivvie's Bank")

The story of the Black House (once variously known as the Coal Waggon, the Waggon and the Crown and Thistle) is quite complex. According to

Local records : or, Historical register of remarkable events, which have occurred in Northumberland and Durham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Berwick-upon-Tweed from the earliest period of authentic record to the present time; with biographical notices of deceased persons of talent, eccentricity, and longevity 
on Jan 31st 1844
"This morning, the Dragon public-house, at Windy Nook, near Gateshead, occupied by Mr. T. Dixon, was entirely burnt down...."
There is no evidence that there was an additional pub of that name in Windy Nook and for a long time the inn keeper Thomas Dixon had the Waggon...not the Dragon so this is certainly a mishearing or a misprint. So, if true that the Waggon was destroyed by fire in 1844 it must have been rebuilt and within a few years was named the Crown and Thistle for about 6 years before becoming the Black House. According to
History, Topography, and Directory of Northumberland, Comprising a General Survey of the County, and a History of the Town and County of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, With Separate Historical, Statistical, and Descriptive Sketches of the Boroughs of Gateshead and Berwick-Upon-Tweed, and All the Towns, Wards, and Manors. to Which Is Subjoined a List of the Seats of the Nobility and Gentry 
In 1855 Thos Dixon is shown as having the Crown and Thistle
In 1857 Thos Dixon is shown as having the Black House
See this Bell’s Life in London comment 1857
"Robt. Elliott of Windy Nook will fly his pigeon against any man's of the same place, for £5 or £10 a side. A match can be made to-morrow  night, (Monday) at Mr Thos. Dixon's, Black House, Windy Nook."
The Crown and Thistle name represents the Union between the Crowns of England and Scotland which formally occurred in 1707. The 150th anniversary of that event was in 1857 and there is some evidence that the name Crown and Thistle in England and Thistle and Crown in Scotland had a revival..in pub names, street names etc

Here's what it's name was and when and who had it, according to various trade directories which I have personally inspected
Coal Waggon 1827 William Park
Coal Waggon 1828 William Park
Coal Waggon1833      R Smart

             Waggon  1841 Robert Robson
                      Waggon 1844 Thomas Dixon (Fire)
             Waggon 1848 Thomas Dixon

Crown & Thistle 1850 Thomas Dixon
                                                Crown & Thistle 1851 Thomas Dixon..also shown as quarry owner
Crown & Thistle 1853 Thomas Dixon
Crown & Thistle 1855 Thomas Dixon
Crown & Thistle 1856 Thomas Dixon

      Black House 1857 Thomas Dixon
    Black House 1875 William Reed
    Black House 1877 William Reed
     Black House 1881 Joseph Purvis
        Black House 1895 Mathew Burnett
         Black House 1897 Mathew Burnett

So Thomas Dixon had it thro at least 13 years and 3 different names. After 1857 it didn't change its name from Black House for 156 years, that is until 2013 when it still sold, on an off-licence basis, beers, wines and spirits but added lots more goods, under the name of supermarket giant Tesco's.

I had at one time thought that the Engine was one of the past names of the Black House but I've found an entry in the 1856 Whellan history that reads
Arthur, Thomas  vict Engine Beer House, Windy Nook
So, that solves that mystery...but no idea where it was located in the village, nor how long it lasted


Let's now turn to the old folk. Windy Nook is particularly blessed with one or two bedroomed housing suitable for older persons. There's the Joseph Hopper houses and there's these, built by the Mineworker's Union but now managed by Gateshead Housing Company for Gateshead Council


This is Kay's Cottages wonderful sheltered housing scheme in Windy Nook. The name carries on the name of Kay's Building built by builder Thomas Kay in the mid 1800's


While taking this photo I met Kevin, the Warden of the scheme and he showed me the inner courtyard through the arch as well as the Community Room where folk meet on a Tuesday morning and at other times for bingo etc

This is another group of inner courtyard houses, Square Houses, in the same scheme. (Square Houses has been an address at Windy Nook since at least 1798..John Oxberry's grandfather lived there)


There's also Johnnie Johnson houses

Now let's turn to something perhaps unique to Windy Nook/High Heworth. Separated only by Whitehill Drive is a nature reserve and a landscaped hill, both environmental gems emerging from bleak industrial blemishes. 
                             (i) The Windy Nook Nature Reserve and Park, a great dog walking, bird watching, outdoor gym area created over the big deep hole left behind after Mr Kell was done with his quarrying operations.

For WW1 Centenary Commemoration the Council, in 2014, created a wild flower area as shown in this video
 And
(ii) "The Windy Nook" art installation built on the top of a mini mountain of colliery waste. The latter is a nice enough adornment to the now natural looking hill...


  ...but I'm sure better use could have been put to.... 
the 2,500 tons of dressed stone that once held up the former Scotswood Bridge.
That's no criticism of the artist Richard Cole to whom the stone was made available nor do I concur with a view that it is a bit clumsy to call this "The Windy Nook" when it is physically atop a hill, comprising the waste of High Heworth colliery and beyond the long time boundary of Windy Nook, albeit by just a smigeon. Indeed, in my view the name "Windy Nook" is perfect for this land art and, "Greenbourne Village", for the residential area.


Let's almost finish with this back to front house, which is not in the huff with us but used to face the road as is customary and somebody went and changed the alignment of Albion Street.It had much earlier, in about 1812, been named that. Previously it was just a continuation of Carr Hill Lane. We know this because the local history expert Joan Hewitt says so. But she also says the name Albion was chosen because "Walter Scott's novels of Albion were popular at that time". Oh Joan! 
Walter Scott had a collection of poems called the Albion edition but much later. About the time of the naming of the road there was a weird book of poems by William Blake with Albion in the title but that's highly unlikely as a reason. Albion was the name given to pre Roman Britain and is related to the White Cliffs.
Truth is, it's just a nice name used for a football club as well as streets and pubs all over Britain.
 End of..
..in my opinion!!
And finally, here's a farm house sideways on to the road, Coldwell Lane. It's Coldwell House which faced southwards towards Windy Nook. It was opposite the cold well, so slightly out of the Nook